Option Board Software

Option Board Software

TRBOnet provides powerful, easy-to-use and affordable solutions for the Motorola Generic Option Board that enhances the capabilities of any digital radio. It gives radio users the power to control their environment as well as protects personnel & resources by implementing modern solutions to increase safety.

Most, or all, MOTOTRBO radios have a special slot where a GOB can be installed. This GOB can be flashed with custom software that adds features to the radio that operate in tandem with existing radio features. The TRBOnet GOB software implements the Store and Forward technique where GPS location information is acquired and retained in the internal GOB memory every 2-5 seconds. This information is then later compressed and sent to TRBOnet Server when there is a free radio channel. Every GOB can store up to 500,000 coordinates, (approximately 1.5 to 4.5 months operating an 8-hour shift 5 days a week) even when your radio is outside the radio coverage area.

The enhanced Personal Safety Alarm features included in the GOB’s software are Man Down, No Movement and Crash Detect. The software analyzes data from the radio’s orientation and its acceleration, and based on this information, if the parameters exceed the predefined user programmable values, will generate an alarm. All settings are configurable and can be adapted to the customer’s unique needs.

Benefits:

Frequent GPS update

GPS outside the radio coverage area

Compresses GPS packets

Saves the radio channe

Geo-roaming (automatically changes the channel when entering or leaving a designated area)

Man down/ No Movement

The feature allows you to distinguish false alarms from the real threat – and act fast. The radio device constantly monitors position and movement and will produce a pre-warning tone to notify the user about unusual movement or if no motion is detected. Should the user not correct the radio position and dismiss the warning tone, an emergency alarm will be triggered and a notification will be sent to a dispatch centre. Settings such as angle deviation, timeout interval, pre-alarm tones and volume level are conjurable and can be changed at any time.

Crash Detect

The “Crash Detect” feature utilizes a similar method of detection to what is used in motorcycles. In this type of accident, the driver or rider may be injured become unconscious. Should the radio sensor detect a strong G-force and unusual momentum followed by no movement, an immediate notification will be sent to a dispatcher.

Lone Worker

Implementing Lone Worker technology takes personnel safety to new heights. This feature allows the dispatcher to set a time interval in which the communication with a subscriber is expected. If a lone worker has not called the dispatcher for a pre-set period, an alarm is activated.

Geo-fencing

The radio unit controls its location independently from a dispatch console and updates GPS coordinates and speed every 3-5 seconds without overloading the channel. If the radio leaves the zone of geofence or exceeds the speed limit, a tone and a message is triggered to immediately notify the user. The dispatcher receives a notification about the geofence rules violation with details on location and time.

Geo-roaming

When working with multiple radio channels it is crucial to switch channels at the right time to stay connected. With TRBOnet geo-roaming feature, the radio controls the switching of channels automatically according to GPS coordinates.

Store-and-Forward Technique

GPS Store and Forward is a piece of software developed for Motorola generic option boards that allows you to get more frequent GPS updates (every 2-5 seconds). If you have a busy radio system and, therefore, cannot poll location information very frequently, you get a GPS report with just a few points that are far from each other, and you don’t really know which way the radio user went or drove. Using an option board and our software, you can have updates every few seconds. The historical route will show much more points or breadcrumbs, and the line will look much smoother. The software is smart enough not drop a lot of breadcrumbs if your asset is moving straight away. If you go around a curve, it recognizes the direction change and start dropping more breadcrumbs, so you know for sure where exactly the user has been. You can get the GPS information online, in this case the software helps you save your channel loading by compressing several GPS packets and sending them as one packet. Alternatively, you can just obtain this information at the end of the day, when your system is idle, or get it every Sunday, every two weeks, whenever you want. The option board can store up to half a million points, so you won’t miss any information.

One of the most exciting features of this software is that your radio does not need to be in the radio coverage area. It can store up to 500 000 GPS coordinates, so even with 5 seconds updates you can go out of the radio range for a week. And when you are back in, all your movements will be dumped back into your TRBOnet system. If your employee drives your company's car over a weekend, you can use this feature to nail down such situations by checking the historical route on the option board. This feature may be useful for customers operating vehicles transporting valuable assets, or police, convoys, public utilities etc. One more feature that you can take advantage of using the software is Mobile Geofencing: you don’t only get GPS updates every few second, you can also create a geofence rule specific to each radio. Using the traditional DMR technology, you can poll GPS data every 2 minutes or so, it can be too late, and the dispatcher just cannot react quickly if the user has entered a restricted area. The option board can generate an alarm immediately if a radio user happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.